Category: General ramblings

Feeling fruity!

Hey guys, hooray for Friday and all. I was up super early this morning to try to get some Olympic tickets (didn’t get any the first time round). I got a confirmation code, so am keeping my fingers crossed. Anyone else tried this time around?

Anyway, first up, last night was the new body pump. I was not that excited by the music- one track was “Sweet child of mine” which I know will get on my nerves as I am not a fan of it. There was a Pink song (I think? Something about raising your glass- is that Pink?), but nothing that I was excited for right away. Anyway, it was good- hard work (the lunges have a load of squats in there too, and you do the hover at the end with feet on the step- crazy I have never done that before), but I am getting more and more stiff today!

Fruity stuff!

I have been using stuff from the freezer (I love to buy bags of frozen blueberries, raspberries, cherries, blackberries, plus I freeze bananas once they go a bit brown, so there is a lot of fruit in there that needs eating), so here are some pics from the last few days:

Frozen raspberries (80g) whizzed up with a pot of chocolate alpro. Yummylicious. Seriously if you have not tried this, the do. Frozen raspberries on their own once whizzed up go like sorbet, but the chocolate and raspberry combo is amazing. But any thing would do – I have done it with yoghurt and stuff too.

Banana mashed with cocoa and tsp peanut butter, topped with a pear (great post body pump snackage).

Porridge with blueberries- I love how purple it goes 🙂

Blueberry porridge in pb jar. It was really pretty-purple and peanut stripes, but it did not come out.

So what would you do with frozen fruit? Smoothies? Add to muffins? (I love frozen blueberries in muffins). Other???

I am also excited as I have received a couple of packages;

Some lovely Righteous salad dressing (the raspberry and sweet basil looks so good, and it is fruity you see, so it fits). I am so excited to try these!

And some lovely coconut water! It is supposed to be hot this weekend so I shall need it 🙂

I am also so excited because for the first time in so long (seriously I cannot remember the last time) I do not have any work to do at the weekend!!!!!!! I am so excited!!!!!! What on earth will I do with my Saturday afternoon? Well, I am hoping to have a run in the morning, and then maybe sit in the garden in the afternoon! And maybe some baking for Sunday of course. Big plans I know! 🙂

So, any plans for tomorrow/ the weekend?

Bloggie big time!

Hey guys.

First, glad you are all (mostly) enjoying Wimbledon.

Second of all, I got an email today from someone called Lee Gant who works on ITV’s The Biggest Loser (so by getting this email I am thinking it is bloggie big time). He wanted me to give a little shout out for potential contestants (I nearly wrote customers there) on my blog, so here is the information:

‘The Biggest Loser is back and we are on a nationwide search for duos of friends and relatives and couples that are desperate to lose weight. The programme aims to take these people through a structured plan of rigorous exercise, training and diets in order to help them attain their dream physique.

Last year’s winner Wil Graham lost a staggering eight and a half stone. As if that wasn’t enough he also went home with £25,000!

If you’re ready to transform your life, and have someone to share the journey with you, then apply to be on the new series of The Biggest Loser.

Go to www.biggestloseruk.com for further details and to fill out an application form.

Or if you prefer, you can e-mail us at biggest.loser@shine.tv, or simply call our voicemail box on 0844 6780 156 and leave your name, address and contact telephone number. We will send you an application form with a SAE.

(Calls cost 5ppm including VAT)’

So, the info is there in case anyone fancies acting on it (or knows someone who would- I always wondered how they got contestants for things like that).

And now normal service resumes.

Breakfast was lovely today- I had some frozen blackberries (still trying to empty the freezer so we can defrost it) and so I put them in my porridge. Yum I just love berries (and cinnamon) in porridge.

After work I had a cereal bar for some energy;

This gave me quite a sugar boost I think! Some nice seeds in there, and dried cranberries, but also the yoghurt coating, although it went quite well with this bar, whereas on some I find the yoghurt coating a bit too sweet. Maybe the seeds and other things kept the actual bar less sweet.

Anyway, then it was time for a run. My calves have been stiff all day (it was a different instructor at aerobics last night, and I do not think I stretched enough after), but I was keen to try the next Audiofuel one. It turned out to be the same, but each section was 5 steps per min faster (so we got up to 180, I say we, I mean me and Martin Yelling of course). The recovery pasts still felt slow (but not quite as bad) but the fast bit was hard- by the end of the final fast interval I was finding it hard to get my breath! But that is a good thing! Then I came home and did the yoga for runners podcast, which I think really helped stretch out my muscles.

Then I had another freezer meal- a lentil, kidney bean and veggie chilli with added spinach and frozen broccoli. Bonus points for me all round today!

I was thinking today- association vs disassociation. When I first started running I would do anything to take my mind off the run (eg listen to music, think about other things) but since listening to marathon talk I have been trying to think about the actual running a bit more. I have read articles before about this, and how people like Paula Radcliffe focus on their running and form and breathing etc as this helps them improve and perform. I was worried that the Audiofuel podcasts would seem too hard as I would not be able to think about something else, but I think it is really good for me to have the little reminders about keeping my shoulders relaxed and so on. During body pump I tend to try and focus on how strong I feel, as I think the positive mindset helps me achieve, and it is hard not to think about it while your muscles are burning!

So which kind of exerciser are you? Do you think about what you are doing, or try to take your mind off it?

🙂

Wimbledon!

Love it or not bothered?

I am not a massive tennis fan, but I do keep an ear out on the sports news during the year for tennis results. But I just love Wimbledon! I love getting home from work and putting on the TV- something therapeutic about the noise from the rally’s and the hush of the crowd. I do, however, get annoyed with all the fever surrounding any British hopefuls, and the people who insist on shouting out during the games. Do they not realise that they are supposed to be quiet?

Today I was not home too late, so I got to watch some tennis before going to aerobics!

But first, last night I had some strawberries and caramel dessert- now the size of these strawberries is ridiculous. Last week I got them and they were tiny and delicious. This week, well, look at the picture to see what I mean:

Yes the biggest one was about the size of the pot. They tasted quite nice, but still, there must have only been about 9 in the box- as it was a 400g box that is nearly 50g per strawberry- craziness. Good for Wimbledon watching anyway.

As the camera was in the kitchen, I also took a pic of my breakfast this morning:

Porridge with fresh raspberries cooked in (from Andy’s parents’ garden). Soooooooo good.

And also my lunch as I got it ready:

A pitta with sunflower seed butter, some roasted peppers and almond and sesame tofu ( I tried that this week but I prefer the basil stuff) and a pear. All in the cute lunch boxes! Love paperchase!

Lastly, a confession of sorts. I posted the other week about my hoarding habits. I was down to my last few Cocoa mint nakd bars, and then I saw that on the website the mix boxes of the cocoa bars were reduced (ÂŁ10.99 for a box of 18 so a pretty good deal, 61p each- plus if you get 2 boxes you get a discount too……) .

So…..

…

..

Yup, not one, but two boxes of mixed cocoa ones (cocoa delight, cocoa mint and cocoa orange). Excuse the messy hair- I had just got out of bed! And excuse the rubbish photo- holding 2 boxes and trying to take my own picture is not an easy task! I do eat them most days (one for my mid morning snack at work) so I will get through the boxes quickly.

That is my guilty face I think! 🙂

So, any confessions from you guys this fine evening?

A speedier run

Hey guys

Due to the rain forecast Saturday morning (and I know I could have gone out Sunday instead, but I look forward to Saturday mornings) I was super speedy at getting ready. After breakfast I still managed to clean the bathrooms, but was ready nice and quick (normally I will listen to the radio, potter around at home and before I know it, 2 hours has passed). I was going to do the same 8.5 mile route as last weekend, and decided I would go on how I felt. I did wear my Nike+ but did not look at it once. I had a load of work to do Saturday afternoon, so knew I would feel all antsy and cooped up later. So it was lovely to run and really think about how good it felt to be out in the fresh air, filling up my lungs and feeling wide awake. I also saw some teeny baby bunnies- very tempted to put one (or two, or three) in my garden!  I could see the black clouds gathering, and it got much darker as I went on. I also got accosted by someone from “Regiment Fitness”- (I was watching the people do their sit ups and circuits on a patch of grass when I ran past)- the man actually ran up to me and alongside me and asked if I wanted to join in! Must have seen me staring whoops! I declined politely! Anyway, I was about 2 mins from home when the heavens opened. Cue a sprint finish for me (not easy after over 8 miles)- luckily there is a little bit of covered tarmac where I stopped to get out my key before sprinting to the front door! What great timing!

Anyway, the whole run took me 89 mins, which is a whole 4 mins faster than last Saturday. Those black clouds must be some good motivation!

Once home I was thirsty so it was time for some lovely coconut water. Can you see the rain in the background? I do not mind running in the rain (I have a baseball hat or tennis visor as I still wear my glasses) but I do not like the torrential rain as it ruins my shoes etc. It was totally coming down in bucket loads.

Other exciting news- I made some cupcakes!!!!!! (I should have really chosen running cookie as my name, as I much prefer baking and eating cookies, but it did not sound as good in my opinion!) On Friday I was given a fab belated birthday present:

There are so many amazing looking recipes in here, but due to my current tea obsession, it had to be Earl Grey Cupcakes! Perfect for Father’s day too I thought. Although I think I will try it again with different teabags- Chai cupcakes anyone?

Now these puffed up like crazy in the oven, and the icing went very drippy, as you can see (not like in the picture in the recipe book) but we had one at Sunday tea and they were fab. The rest have been given to my family and Andy’s family.

Saturday evening we had burgers for tea (operation use up stuff in the freezer is still going on- I found a lonely bean burger which I made in February according to the bag!)- so I made rolls to go with them.

I was actually amazed at how the rolls turned out 🙂

Gotta love a burger with some gherkins in it! Yum yum. Plus my first fresh sweetcorn cob of this year. I love the summer time 🙂

Fave summer food?

And don’t forget to enter the Bloom Tea giveaway– one week to go 🙂

Stay tuned people…..

Because over the weekend I will have some news of a giveaway! How exciting!

But first, man I have been busy at work, and when I got home I needed a boost before body pump.

Some Earl Grey tea, coz that is how the English roll.

Then it was body pump time! Woo! It was not the new release, which I was quite relieved about. Better the devil you know! It was super hard though- I went back up to my pre marathon weights, and I am already paying for it now!

Then I had some lovely banana chocolate pudding (inspired by Jemma from Celery and Cupcakes):

Mashed banana with cocoa powder and pb, then topped with a pear and some strawberries (including some from my garden). 🙂 Looks like a mess, tastes like a dream.

I put the links onto the post form yesterday for the tofu bake and the raw chocolate brownie too, just in case you were wondering.

Also, a weird thing happened to me the other day when I was driving home. I was driving along a road, and a guy in a car pulled out across my lane to turn right. There was not much of a gap, and he had to put his foot down a bit, and as he pulled in front of me, he stuck his tongue out at me. Yes, you read that right. A fully grown man stuck his tongue out at me. Now, I did not beep or gesticulate or anything, so it was not in retaliation. So so weird. I was laughing in shock and looking around in case anyone else saw it. So, any weird car experiences?

Yay for the weekend (nearly)

🙂